Arriving at the seaside, Ye Ju moved all the bamboo pots she had painstakingly made. Xiao Bai also helped carry some bamboo chopsticks and bowls. Ye Ju picked up a few of the larger pearls Xiao Bai had previously coughed up to play with.
She decided not to dismantle the wooden house but to rebuild it. Before, the bed was just leaves spread on the ground. Now, she would build something like a stilted house. Moving the belongings didn't take long, mainly because there wasn't much to move.
As Ye Ju and Xiao Bai went to the purple bamboo forest, they ate along the way, discussing with Xiao Bai which fruits were delicious and should be kept for seeds to plant later. Xiao Bai was very reliable at this time. As an ancient spiritual beast that had received a legacy, it knew which were spiritual flowers and grasses, which fruits contained spiritual energy, and their effects. By the time they reached the bamboo forest, they were full again.
Ye Ju looked at the entire purple bamboo forest. She estimated that the bamboo had grown quite a bit, at least in height, by a large margin. Now, they looked at least six to seven meters tall. It seemed the spiritual energy emanating from the spiritual spring had reached this side.
Ye Ju told Xiao Bai they needed to select purple bamboo of similar height and size. Then, one person and one beast started working.
Soon, the bamboo forest was filled with the sounds of snapping and rustling. When they saw they had enough, they called Xiao Bai to help drag them back. They found wild vines and bundled ten stalks together. This time, they chose bamboo with a diameter of about 10-15 centimeters. Xiao Bai reverted to its original form, enlarged its body, and used its tail to directly coil seven or eight bundles. Ye Ju also discovered that after absorbing the spiritual energy from the stone milk, she had also become incredibly strong. She was carrying ten bundles of purple bamboo and didn't feel their weight. If it weren't for the difficulty of placing them, she could have added more. Seeing that there wasn't much left, she directly used her spiritual power to wrap the pile of bamboo and let it slowly follow her back to the spiritual spring.
Although this consumed spiritual power, it also had benefits. Ye Ju found that every time she depleted her spiritual power and then cultivated, she would advance faster. She didn't understand the principle. When she asked Xiao Bai, Xiao Bai didn't know the human cultivation system either, as it was completely different from its spiritual beast clan's cultivation system.
Upon arriving at the spiritual spring, they saw Xiao Bai eating fruit on a tree again.
"Xiao Bai, are you hungry again?" Ye Ju looked at the sky and saw that it was indeed past noon.
"Sister, Xiao Bai wants to eat your grilled fish." Speaking of grilled fish, Xiao Bai couldn't help but salivate. It was difficult for this carnivorous spiritual beast; eating a pile of fruit was not as satisfying as eating meat. Hearing Xiao Bai mention grilled fish, Ye Ju's appetite was also whetted.
"Let's go catch fish in the sea."
"Wow! That's great, Sister. We'll have grilled fish!"
Arriving at the seaside, Ye Ju had always stayed in the shallow waters before, not daring to go into the deep sea due to her lack of self-protection. Xiao Bai had already darted out, and with a dive, it plunged into the sea and disappeared. Ye Ju had just reached the shallow waters when Xiao Bai reverted to its original form, grabbed seven or eight fish with its claws, and coiled them up with its tail. Fine, Ye Ju didn't need to go into the water anymore; she could just pick up what was readily available. She processed them directly by the sea and returned to grill the fish by the spiritual spring. She also asked Xiao Bai to gather some stones and simply build a stove, preparing to start cooking.
When they went to the bamboo forest, they found quite a few spicy plants. These were plants that Xiao Bai had accidentally eaten before. This cub must have caused a lot of trouble for plants before it gained sentience. This time, she also picked some to marinate the fish, to remove the fishy smell and enhance the flavor. She picked them up, placed them on the stone slab, and heated it to grill the fish. It was a pity there was no animal fat, and they were prone to burning, so she had to keep flipping them and squeezing fruit juice on them. If only she had cumin and honey.
In another purple bamboo pot next to it, she was stewing spiritual spring fish soup. She also added chopped fruit, believed to be papaya, to stew together. Eating and grilling, one person and one beast finished it all. Ye Ju noticed that her and Xiao Bai's appetites had increased. Looking at the little girl, her small mouth couldn't stop eating.
After eating their fill, they started working. Ye Ju asked Xiao Bai to cut the bamboo to the desired size. She selected four large purple bamboo stalks and planted them as ground stakes. Ye Ju directly held them and used her ice blade to sharpen the bamboo, piercing them into the ground with no effort. She then used four more stalks to create a horizontal structure about half a meter above the ground, using a mortise and tenon method and securing them with bamboo nails. She then arranged thinner bamboo stalks one by one. Of course, she also dug notches on the top to ensure each bamboo stalk fit perfectly, and then reinforced them with bamboo nails. This made them sturdier than those tied with wild vines. Thus, the floor was completed. Considering the load-bearing capacity, she chose larger purple bamboo for the main frame.
The bamboo walls were made in the same way. She made two rooms, with the kitchen set up separately. Now only the roof remained. The roof was still triangular. It looked good, and in rainy weather, the rainwater would flow down the eaves. She thought about drinking tea and enjoying the rain, although she didn't know where to get tea yet. As a Chinese person, how could she not have some aspirations?
For the roof, she used small bamboo stalks of 10 cm. She asked Xiao Bai to directly split the purple bamboo in half. After building the roof frame, she laid the finely split bamboo one by one with the curved side facing outwards, securing them with bamboo nails.
She then went to pick a large pile of giant leaves. According to Xiao Bai, these leaves were very waterproof and did not wither after being picked. She laid the leaves densely in two layers, then covered them with the flat surface of the other half of the purple bamboo she had just split, aligning them with the previous layer. This effectively sandwiched them, making it perfect! She secured them with large bamboo nails. She was grateful to Xiao Bai, whose control over the ice blade far surpassed Ye Ju's own. While building the house, Xiao Bai was enthusiastically busy, like a diligent little bee!
When the roof was finished, Xiao Bai's voice came from inside the house:
"Sister, this room is so dark!"
"Damn it..." Ye Ju finally realized what she had forgotten. She had forgotten to leave windows...
Ye Ju jumped down from the ground. She walked around and chose a location, then carefully used her ice spiritual power to cut out windows about one meter wide. She then used two stalks for horizontal support and added two more purple bamboo stalks on the sides for reinforcement. This made the window approximately 0.8-0.9 meters in size. The other room was made in the same way. Fortunately, she remembered to leave a door when building the inner walls. Hehe!
She repeated the process, and it was almost dark. She took out the glowing pearls to use as lighting. Xiao Bai coughed up several more. Outside, Ye Ju simply inserted four bamboo poles into the ground around the perimeter, then wove a small purple bamboo lantern at the top of each pole and inserted a glowing pearl. Simple light bulbs were made. They could be pulled out and used as torches. She guessed these were night-shining pearls, but Ye Ju wasn't sure. Having been poor for over twenty years, she didn't recognize top-tier or legendary items. The rooms were designed with insets; she simply made a hole and placed the pearls inside.
Ye Ju decided to prepare food first; the kitchen would be done tomorrow. While building the house, she had left a corridor over a meter wide, and now only the railings were missing. After preparing the food, she sat in the corridor with Xiao Bai to eat. Their four feet, one large and one small, dangled back and forth, creating a scene of pure contentment!
After one person and one beast had eaten their fill, Ye Ju also noticed that the spiritual energy in the food could no longer help her advance. After washing up, her spiritual power was exhausted, so she chose a room, spread out some leaves, and fell asleep!